Yesterday we noticed on a tourist map that there was a bufone at a beach only 2 miles from Llanes so we decided to walk there at high tide when the bufones are at their glory. (Charlie mentioned bufones in a previous post.) When we were nearly there, I asked a man who was walking up from the beach if he knew where to find the bufone. He said there were no bufones at this beach. We certainly didn’t see any. But, he said “merece la pena” (it’s worth the trouble) to do the steep walk down to the beach.
I got a thrill hearing him say that (“merece la pena”) as it is one of the phrases Pimsleur teaches in their Spanish audio courses. It’s fun to hear the native speakers say something you’ve learned. (I’ll digress a little here for those interested in learning Spanish: The Pimsleur Spain Spanish course teaches “merece la pena” but the Pimsleur Latin American Spanish course teaches “vale la pena.”)
Of course, it was another amazing beach. We cannot believe how many stunning walks there are along this coast. We cannot believe this area is not as famous as, say, Tuscany, but, we are glad that it isn’t yet spoiled by tourism. The Spanish people know about it and flock here in the summer to get away from the heat in central and southern Spain. But this time of the year there is very little tourism.
We decided to walk back there again today at low tide. But there was not a huge difference between high and low tide this time. (Only about a meter.) It was still worth the trouble to visit the beach again.
